by Melody Anne
Because, in the end, she could handle physical pain, and she anticipated the pleasure. It was her emotions she couldn’t deal with.
Her clothes stripped away, she didn’t look back at Dalton as she climbed onto the bed and lay down, her body on display for the man who stood in the doorway watching her every move, no expression on his face to tell her what he was feeling or thinking.
But she didn’t need to see a reaction from his eyes — they would ignite soon enough. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he wanted her, needed her, and craved her just as much as she craved him.
“Very good, Elena. See how much easier it is when you obey,” he told her as he stepped closer, his fingers undoing the buttons on his shirt before he stripped it away.
She said nothing.
“I much prefer this obedient woman,” he said with a slight mocking in his tone. “Now I want you to move up farther on the bed.” She did. “Good girl.” She gritted her teeth together. She couldn’t show him her anger at being belittled. It was all part of his process whether she liked it or not.
“Put your hands out wide above your head.”
He took off his pants and underwear and stood before her, thick and hard, not at all ashamed of showing his reaction to her obedience.
Reaching into the drawer next to the bed, Dalton pulled out two silk ropes, and Elena had to fight not to pull her arms back against her. She loved what Dalton did to her while he had his way with her, but being restrained was her least favorite of all the things he did. The total loss of control was almost too much to take.
But she left her arms right where they were as he moved to first one side of the bed and then the other, quickly and efficiently securing her wrists with one end and then tying the restraints to the posts on the bed.
Dalton’s fingers trailed down her arm and over the curve of her breast, tweaking her nipple before moving to the other one and squeezing that one even harder, making a whimper escape her throat.
She squeezed her thighs together as pressure quickly built up. This was always how it was with him, one erotic dance leading into another, barely giving her time to catch her breath.
“Don’t close your legs,” he demanded as he stepped back and caressed her body with his eyes. “I like them spread open for me, showing me your heat, showing me how much you desire me. Open them . . . wider . . . wider . . .”
Her reward for doing as he commanded was his fingers caressing her legs from her feet, all the way up her thighs, then slipping across her wet heat. He didn’t secure her legs, but continued running his fingers up and down them, and then sweeping lightly across her stomach and breasts.
Elena’s body reacted to Dalton’s masterful touch as she squirmed beneath him. He climbed onto the bed and retraced the path of his fingers with his tongue, making her cry out.
“Shh. Hold it in,” he told her as his mouth latched onto her nipple, and he sucked hard before nibbling on it like it was a tasty treat.
She had to bite her lip to keep the moans from escaping as he continued exploring her body, inch by beautiful inch, bringing her close to orgasm before withdrawing, making her want to whimper in agony.
He didn’t touch her lips, which was probably good since she was biting the bottom one so hard it was swelling. A hungry growl escaped him as he slid down her body, kissing her stomach before his lips tasted her near where she throbbed the most.
She thought he would tease her again, move away, but then his mouth was latched on at her core, his tongue diving inside her, and she couldn’t prevent the cry of pleasure from rumbling out of her.
This time he didn’t silence her, though. Placing his hands beneath her butt, he lifted her up, making his access to her core easier as he devoured her wet lips and sucked on her throbbing center.
“Remember the pleasure, Elena. Focus on the pleasure,” he told her, breaking his lips away for only a moment before he dove back in and swept his tongue repeatedly across her center.
He knew every time she was ready to release because he moved away at the last moment and nibbled on another part of her heated core before coming back and licking her again and again.
She was nothing but a mass of heat and desire. There wasn’t one place on her body not throbbing with a mixture of pleasure and pain. She wanted release, but she didn’t want the seduction to end.
Her head turned from side to side on the bed as she groaned, wishing she could reach out and grab him, hold him in place so he would complete what he kept starting.
When she thought he was going to send her over the edge, though, he pulled back again, but this time didn’t latch his mouth back on, making her cry out her frustration. He had left her before without an orgasm. She didn’t think she could possibly bear it if he chose to do that to her now.
He sat back and looked at her, triumph in his eyes as he reached down and gripped his thickness, the tip soaked from his own pleasure. He rubbed his palm across the end, wetting it before he rubbed himself while looking at her.
“Are you mine, Elena?” he asked, his voice husky as his hand stroked up and down his thick shaft.
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate, hungry for him to fill her.
“Will you obey me?” he asked again, his eyes fixed on her wetness instead of her face.
“Yes, Dalton,” she said, her voice weak from need.
With that, he released his grip on himself and crawled over her. There was no need for protection as he’d made sure she was on birth control long ago. There was nothing to prevent them from being skin to skin as he entered her.
“You are mine now, Elena. Don’t forget it again or you won’t like the consequences,” he told her before finally lining himself up with her. She could fill his thickness resting against her hot core, and she whimpered again as he bent over her without thrusting inside.
Instead of uniting them, he leaned back and then grabbed one of her legs, lifting it higher and higher until it was over his shoulder, stretching her wider than she’d ever been stretched before.
And then he was centered against her again, her core opened to him, his thickness more than ready to plunge inside. She’d never wanted him more than she did right then.
“Please, Dalton . . .” she whimpered.
It must have been what he was waiting for, because his fingers tightened on her ass as he thrust forward, sinking himself fully inside in one hard motion that had her world spinning.
He was so big, so full, and so perfect she knew it wouldn’t take her long at all to find the completion he’d so far denied her. Without any further hesitation or teasing, Dalton found a sensual rhythm as he stretched her leg even farther and urgently pushed in and out of her tight body.
A few more thrusts and Elena wanted to explode, but she held off, also not wanting the moment to end. She kept trying to reach for him, but her bound hands prevented her.
“Come now, Elena, come hard,” Dalton commanded as he pushed even harder, his hips slamming against her core as he sunk deeper and deeper inside her.
There was no chance of her disobeying him. Her body exploded, gripping him tightly, making him touch every millimeter of space inside her pulsing walls. The orgasm intensified even more when she felt the hot spurts of his own release coating her insides.
He groaned, something rare with Dalton as he thrust deep and hard, leaving every ounce of his pleasure buried deep within her. When her trembling stopped, she realized he’d released her leg and had already moved up to the top of the bed to release her arms before he gripped them and rubbed the tender area out.
Neither of them spoke as he finished soothing her sore wrists then sitting down on the side of the bed and looking at her. She wanted to curl up into a ball and protect herself.
Now that the sex was over, she felt too vulnerable. She always did with Dalton. He demanded she open herself fully to him without giving her th
“If you obey, then it will always be like this,” Dalton told her. He stood and moved to his discarded clothes.
He wouldn’t stay with her. He never did.
“Go to sleep now. We leave for home in the morning.”
He turned and walked from the room. Elena curled into a ball, lifting the blankets over her, shivering beneath the covers.
If only the sex would never end. At least while in his arms with passion flowing freely between them, she wasn’t alone, didn’t feel empty and betrayed.
Sleep took a while, but when it came, she drifted off and slept hard. She’d made a decision and even though she didn’t know the future, she didn’t have to think about it anymore.
Her life was in Dalton’s hands, and he would make sure she didn’t keep falling — or he would push her over the cliff himself. She really didn’t know and didn’t care how it all ended.
Chapter Six
Back at Dalton’s place, Elena found herself in a new world that she wasn’t exactly sure of. Even though she’d been in his household for years, she’d never been so controlled, not even in the beginning when they’d beat her into submission. Then, though, she’d fought it, still tried to keep a piece of herself she’d clung to.
From that moment in his hotel room, though, she’d agreed to give herself over to him. It wasn’t easy for her to do. She’d had to bite her lip more than once when he barked out an order, but he’d been right. By allowing Dalton to take control of her life, the spinning had slowed, had eased.
It hadn’t stopped, though.
If she did resist him, he didn’t hesitate to show his displeasure. Sometimes he wouldn’t see her for days as punishment. And those days were the worst — the times she had nothing to do but think of all she’d lost. He was right; it was much easier to lay it all on his shoulder. Even knowing this, it didn’t make it easy. Her initial reaction was to defy him, to try to assert herself.
It had been a month since she’d watched her mother turn from her and practically run away. Elena knew she was a broken woman. She only hoped Dalton truly was the person to help her pick up the pieces, the one to help her heal so she wouldn’t always need to be controlled.
A tapping sounded on her bedroom door before it opened, and Elena turned to find a beautiful woman standing there with an open smile and long dark hair.
“Hi, Elena, I’m Tina, your personal shopper for the day,” she said and stepped into the room.
Elena was confused.
“My shopper?” she finally asked when the woman didn’t elaborate.
“Yes. Dalton said you’ve never been out shopping, and he has events coming up, so you and I get to go put a nice little dent in his platinum card,” Tina said with a twinkle in her eyes.
Dalton hadn’t said a word to her about shopping or events. She’d only left the house with him twice: once at the beach, which hadn’t gone too well, and the second time when he’d taken her home. That had gone even worse.
“I don’t understand,” Elena said, not moving from her position.
“What don’t you understand? We’re going to buy clothes, cosmetics, get a makeover, and it’s all on Dalton,” the woman said with a laugh. “Come on. There’s lots to do and only so many hours in a day.”
She turned toward the door, opened it, and exited. Elena didn’t move. Was this a test from Dalton? He’d told her she was to do exactly as he said at all times. Was he seeing if she would jump ship at the first opportunity?
Elena was torn on what to do. Tina came back to the open door and looked at her expectantly.
“Dalton didn’t say anything about this to me. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go,” Elena finally told her.
Though it was almost physically painful to resist going out when she rarely ever got to leave the mansion, she wanted to pass this test.
“We will be back before Dalton gets home if we leave now. You have nothing to fear,” Tina said, her brows puckered as she considered Elena.
“I . . . really . . . I don’t know . . .”
Elena was torn. Tina picked up her phone and dialed, holding it to her ear. It must have been answered quickly.
“Dalton. Would you please tell Elena it’s okay to go out with me,” Tina said before turning back to Elena. “He wants to speak to you.”
Elena cringed as she took the phone. This was a test, and she’d failed it by disobeying Dalton’s friend or employee, maybe even his lover. She had to fight the trembling in her fingers as she put the phone to her ear.
“Elena?” His voice was firm and she couldn’t stop the slight quiver this time.
“Yes, it’s me,” she said.
“Go shopping with Tina. I have events coming up, and I need you presentable. Enjoy the afternoon.”
“Okay,” she said. Before Dalton said another word, the phone was ripped from her fingers as Tina lifted it back to her ear.
“Good. That’s all settled. I’m going to make a dint in your ever expanding wealth now,” she said with a laugh. He must have said something else, because her chuckles grew before she hung up the phone.
Elena followed Tina out the door without any hesitation; they moved down the staircase and exited the house. The large black SUV was waiting for them, and Elena gave Lincoln a hesitant smile as she began climbing in.
“It’s good to see you outside, Elena,” he told her.
“Thanks, Lincoln,” she responded.
She wouldn’t exactly call Lincoln her friend, but he was her confidant once in a while. Dalton would sometimes be gone for days at a time and if her path crossed with Lincoln’s he would offer her kind words, or just sit and talk to her about anything and everything.
He was a huge football fan and really got revved up when the Cowboys were playing. It didn’t help that they often lost games. He said it didn’t matter if your team was winning or losing, you were loyal to them no matter what.
Elena knew nothing about loyalty. She’d been loyal to Leo and look how badly that had turned out for her. That man had shattered her trust in people, had abused her, and done whatever he’d wanted with her. But she’d never felt protected by Leo, just used and afraid.
Dalton had saved her from that life, but really, what had he saved her for? He wasn’t nearly as cruel as Leo had been, and he actually made her feel emotions and feelings she still couldn’t comprehend, but she’d had to agree to be his servant first.
She didn’t know a life beyond that.
“You seem to be in a far off place,” Tina said as they drove down the city streets.
“I’m sorry. I don’t get out much,” Elena told the woman.
She found herself embarrassed about it. Here was a confident, beautiful woman who had the freedom to do whatever she chose, and they both knew Elena didn’t share the same existence.
What would it be like to have control over your own life?
Elena was beginning to think it was something she might want. She just didn’t know how to go about getting that.
The next few hours were a flurry of activity as Tina dragged Elena into a mall where they went from store to store, trying on endless outfits until Tina approved. Of course they also visited a lingerie store, where Tina picked out skimpy pieces of lace and satin, and then they finished it off with some of the most beautiful jewelry Elena had ever seen.
“I’m famished now. Time to eat,” Tina told her as she sent the last of their bags with Lincoln to the car. “We need fuel before the makeover session starts.”
They entered a nice Italian restaurant and took a seat while Tina pulled out her iPad and seemed to be checking items off a list.
Elena found that she was truly enjoying Tina’s company. The woman was confident, fun, and so sure of herself. If Elena’s life had been different she wondered if the two of them would have been friends. If Elena would have been like this woman.
Maybe someday she could. She decided right then and there that she wanted to be like this woman, wanted to have the respect of her peers. She would do whatever Dalton demanded of her so she could achieve that goal.
Elena watched everything Tina did, how she held her silverware, how she picked up her glass, the way her mouth quirked when she was amused, and how she spoke to the wait staff. It was fascinating.
“Dalton is a wonderful boss, and I adore him, but he hasn’t told me much at all about you, Elena. Tell me all about yourself,” Tina said as she sipped on her iced tea, her iPad put away, and her full attention on Elena.
“There’s really nothing to tell,” Elena told her.
“Everyone has a story, Elena. And even if we think our story is too ordinary, or too outlandish, a story is magical, and to tell it is a gift. I want to hear yours,” Tina countered.
“Really. I . . .” Elena paused. Even if she liked this woman, she didn’t know her. What could she honestly tell her? “I had a concussion a while back and I don’t really remember much of my life.”
Yes, pieces of her life had come back to her, but every time a new memory came, it didn’t bring her peace, only more pain. She would rather not remember her past. Instead she wanted to dream of a better future.
“Well, where did you grow up?” Tina pushed.
“Somewhere back east. I’m not exactly sure.” That was partially the truth.
“I love traveling. I go to New York any chance I get. There’s nothing like a show on Broadway to make you feel like a nineteen twenties starlet,” Tina said with a laugh. “I get dressed to the nines, including wearing unbearably uncomfortable heels and my thick fake lashes.”
“That sounds amazing,” Elena told her. She silently added that to her growing list of things she would love to do in the future.
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